Roundup

The Nagasaki Experience

by Susan Southard

Entering the Nuclear Age, Body by Body

Remember when Jon Stewart called Harry Truman a war criminal?

by Aaron Goldstein

Later he had to apologize.

You Don't Want to Know About the Girls? The 'Comfort Women', the Japanese Military and Allied Forces in the Asia-Pacific War

by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Seventy years after the end of the Asia Pacific War, we have barely taken the first steps towards overcoming the problems of violence against women in war.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

Hiroshima’s literary legacy: the ‘blinding flash’ that changed the world forever

by Daniel Cordle

John Hersey's article in the New Yorker on Hiroshima changed our understanding of the event. 

The Tough Love of ‘Austerity’

by Jennifer Szalai

When we talk about the need for austerity in Greece, the word conveys not just an economic but a moral requirement — a lesson that must be taught.

“Deflategate” and the “Father of Football”

by Julie Des Jardins

Today one could argue that the very size and convoluted nature of the NFL rule book is proof of football’s imperfection, but Walter Camp, the father of football, saw this development as progress.

Seven decades after Hiroshima, is there still a nuclear taboo?

by William Burr and Jeffrey Kimball

Seventy years ago, in August 1945, the United States destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic weapons. Since then, neither the United States nor any other nuclear-armed country has used such weapons against an adversary. Why not?

How a Young Joe Biden Turned Liberals Against Integration

by Jason Sokol

Forty years ago, the Senate supported school busing—until a 32-year-old changed his mind.

Defending Israel against Iranian Nuclear Aggression: War, Genocide, and International Law

by Louis René Beres

Any war launched by Iran could become genocidal. Israel has a right to respond to that kind of threat.

Our 'Merciful' Ending to the 'Good War'

by Christian Appy

"Here we are, 70 years after the nuclear obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I'm wondering if we've come even one step closer to a moral reckoning with our status as the world's only country to use atomic weapons to slaughter human beings."

The Disappearing Act of the World’s Most Valuable Art

by Nicole Orttung

Sold to anonymous bidders and quiet buyers, classical masterpieces often go into hiding for years at a time. The art market has been operating with minimal transparency or oversight for years – dragging treasured artwork from the spotlight to the shadows.

A Monument to the Tragedy that Has Befallen this Nation

by Danusha V. Goska

The National Museum of the American Indian.

Jeb Bush Admires a Really Lousy President — And It’s Not His Brother

by John Nichols

James K. Polk was condemned by John Quincy Adams, Henry David Thoreau, and Abraham Lincoln on issues of human bondage and lawless militarism.

NYT reporter says this one thing works to improve black achievement scores (audio)

It was desegregation.

Five myths about the atomic bomb

by Gregg Herken

1. The bomb ended the war.

Viet Nam a Half Century Later

by David Swanson

Many lies about Vietnam are still told, and many truths are too little known.

Washington Post Op-Ed Highlights Dubious Secrets

by Tom Blanton

Clinton e-mails "Potentially Classified"; So Is This Posting

All the ways the new AP US history standards gloss over the country’s racist past

by Jake Flanagin

The revised AP curriculum significantly tones down language (and even mentions) of racial tension throughout US history.

Trump: What's the Deal?

A 2012 documentary Trump tried to suppress can be seen on the web.